Just finished reading Michael Lewis' article on the collapse of Iceland's financial system. It's not perfect, and I'm a bit bothered by the generalizations he makes about gender characteristics, but it's a really good read.

My brother and I had this when we were kids.



I liked it when we were expected to play with our toys.

I moved, along with two of my roommates, to a new place in early December. It was quite cold at the time.

Two days after the move, I went on my typical holiday trip. Two weeks in Indiana, where it was even colder and there was a ton of snow on the ground.

Then two weeks in Washington, which had just weathered the snowpocalypse, still had snow on the ground, and wavered between cold and rainy, cold and snowy, or just plain cold while I was there.

During all this, the weather had apparently warmed up considerably in San Francisco, and was sunny and bright. I'm sorry I missed that, although because I now live in Daly City and not the Richmond, I wouldn't have been in easy access of the park, even if I had been i the area.

Just after I got back, one roommate left for a week. Then second roommate left to join her the following Friday. My weekend while they were gone was rather boring and quiet.

And then I threw up.

Not entirely sure why. On Saturday, I made some fried rice. Had a bowl and was still hungry a bit later, so I had a second. Felt odd. Puttered around a bit, went to the bathroom and BLARGH, up it came. Felt perfectly fine afterwards. It wasn't even that unpleasant.

Weird, but I dunno what to make of it. I'm not even sick. (As I keep telling myself, I don't get sick, anymore, because I work out and am healthy... except I haven't been working out that much of late.)

Christmas was very nice, overall. I think that two weeks in Indiana is just about right. Long enough that I feel I can spend time with everyone there, but not so long that I get bored because I really don't know anyone besides my family.

It's interesting that both my mom and I went there with the same impression: we'd be able to do the family stuff AND be able to work. I clocked an amazing number of hours over the Christmas week, which was good. Tiring, though. I feel like I'm still recuperating, even a month later.

One interesting highlight was going to see Bolt with my dad, niece and nephew. They're both five and a half and like cartoons quite a bit. However, my nephew apparently does not like movie theaters at all. When I initially pitched the idea, he didn't want to see 'that movie', and even when we went, he wanted to stay in the car. He eventually spent the entire film on my dad's lap.

My niece was pleased as punch about the whole thing. She got a soda and cotton candy at the start, sat next to me enraptured for about the first third and then leaned over to me: "Uncle Jeff, I have to go to the bathroom."

Afterwards they did express how much they liked it, with my nephew asking if they could get it on DVD. (Perhaps in time for their birthday.)

BTW, cotton candy? Gross. Honestly do not know how I ever ate the stuff. No accounting for taste, I suppose.

Washington was nice, despite the weather. I do enjoy hanging out with all my peeps up there, and had considerable fun hitting various gaming nights.

Climbing with Chris was cool, as always, although I continue to feel like I'm not advancing because I don't get to do it regularly. (I suppose it's actually a bit easier to get to a climbing gym from Daly City, but a round trip on the BART plus the fee to climb means it's a $30 hit or so. Bit pricy for me, at the moment.)

I also went to a nicely sedate and enjoyable get together of Puzzle Pirates players, which was an afternoon of fun conversation. And I attended the USSM/LL meet-up thingy where we got to listen to a few hours of Mariners officials talking about how things are different. Nicely uplifting considering the last few years of the franchise.

Spent a few days with my brother at his newer place, which was cool. We made an awesome curry one night. And I introduced him and his wife to Calpico. I think we all like the aloe flavored one the best, which is ironic considering I'd been worried about it at first.

The only downside of going to Washington, besides the fact I don't get to spend enough time there for my taste, is that I always spend a ton of money on food. I've been trying to cut back now that I'm in the Bay Area again, but haven't quite succeeded. I went to a hockey game and sports venues are always expensive.

***

I'm not normally inclined to discuss the Christmas haul, because comparisons of the loot don't do a whole lot for me, and I hate to sound like I'm bragging.

However, theonlymegumegu shocked the hell out of me by getting me a DS, which is totally awesome. I've already gone through Professor Layton and am currently working on Hotel Dusk. I'll probably look up getting a kanji dictionary of some sort in the not too distant future.

My brother got me this awesome baseball jersey. As best I can tell, it's a genuine article (even used, as there's a few dirt stains) from a Japanese high school. I've never had a jersey before, so I lubs it.

I got an incredible number of sweatshirts and books, which is always great. I've turned my bed area of my room into a little reading cubby, so my stacks and stacks of reading material are close by.

And apparently my parents are getting me a TV, another shockingly awesome surprise. I've been a bit overwhelmed researching them, but I'm amused by the different character that each company has.

***

After I got back, I bought a number of games. Given how much my friends (both in Washington and down here) are into purchasing games, I've never really felt the need to do so. Anything I've wanted to play has generally been available.

However, I finally decided I needed my own copy of Race for the Galaxy. And I enjoyed my games of Dominion, Kingsburg, and Witch's Brew enough that I wanted those as well. So I got a big order together and for the first time, actually have a stack that I can consider my own. It's kinda cool. Especially Dominion.

***

Looking forward to the next year, I want to write more and play more board and card games. I really enjoyed the game nights in Washington, so I'd like to try and do something fairly regularly down here. Also, poker.

For writing, I think I'm going to try something Cory Doctorow suggested: just find 20 minutes each day to get a page or so out. Do that, and you'll have a novel in a year.

Also need to be blogging more regularly on goddos. I kinda fell apart during the vacation, so I've not gotten either the November or December recaps done, nor did I get a January preview.

Here's my daily WTF: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

I read this at my sister's wedding. It was a christian wedding, with my grandfather (a Lutheran minister) helping with the presiding.

My parents read it at my brother's wedding, which was an extremely secular wedding where the wedding party was holding beer during the important bits of the ceremony.

1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

I am not, by an large, a religious man. I grew up in a Christian household, where we were exposed to fairly strong Christian beliefs, but my parents, despite their imperfections, believed in letting us think and decide for ourselves what our beliefs were. In time, I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing that forces or requires my belief in any god.

However, I do accept and belive in love, and this passage provides a very strong understanding of it. Ultimately, love is positive. It looks at people, seeks the best in them, and rejoices in that.

Marriage is about love. It is about two people asking (and hopefully receiving) a recognition of their love for each-other. If not in a theological sense, then at least in a legal one.

I cannot in any way understand how removing the ability for two people to marry is anything but the antithesis of love.

Proposition 8 is the opposite of love. It is nothing but hate. You cannot protect an insitution of love by removing it from a set of people. It is not possible, and it is not worthy of respect.

To close with another wise passage:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

In a fashion, marriage is the ultimate pursuit of happiness.

This is me, after a rum'n'Dr Pepper because Obama's the next president of the United States of America:


I don't put much stock into patriotism or nationalism. By and large, we as humans cannot choose our nationality, and defining our identity due to accidents of birth does not make much sense to me. However, Obama delivered his speech tonight as he has delivered the entire campaign: with a message of hope, a promise of execution, and the demeanor of a leader.

I am proud of what America has done tonight. It is not something that came about as an accident of people rising up, but because of the tireless effort of hundreds of thousands to get the message out that this man, in this time, can lead the most powerful nation on Earth to bigger and better things. It remains to be seen whether or not he will deliver, but right now, I believe that he can.

Yesterday, I spoke with my father on the phone and he expressed his doubts about Obama's ability to help the U.S. in this time of great trouble. I can understand that. I have doubts as well. Obama's going to face some especially trying times to guide us out of this crisis. I cast my vote for him because he had presented the best argument and logic to get us out of this, and by extension the rest of the world, too. It will not be easy, it will not be fast, but as a number of his predecessors, I do believe he can and will rise to the occasion.

Franklin Roosevelt was elected in the most trying event of the 20th century and was re-elected twice based on his ability to handle the problems that he faced so well. It's arguable that he could have been re-elected a third time had he survived.

Abraham Lincoln faced what cannot be understated as the most trying crisis a country could ever face and came through as one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen. He was re-elected once and, much like Roosevelt, he probably would have gone much further had he survived.

Barack Obama can join these great men. The challenges are hard, but he's not one to shrink from the challenge or push off the duty. He can be a great president, and I believe that he will be.

Yes, we did... because YES, we can.

First, taken from karenhealey:
On the theory that we could all use a hearty dose of positive energy and general warm fuzziness while we wait, none too patiently, for better times; that *no* one I know is getting told often enough what a good job they are doing just getting through this crazy, lovely world. Take a second, and mention something you like about me (if such a thing exists) in the comments. Then repost this to your own journal, and have some goodness for yourself.

I'm pretty sure that Ive been far more engaged in this election than any other. The presidential race has by far gotten the most newsplay (as usual), but what it's mostly done is bring to light the problems I have with the American political system.

I still dislike the primaries. I dislike the electoral college. I'd much prefer an instant run-off election without any primaries. I'd prefer a popular vote.

Moreso than that, I hate the voter registration and subsequent voter caging tactics that are engaged in. I hate that campaigns feel that they need to pressure votes to vote or not to vote.

Registration should be automatic: if you're a citizen and 18 years old, you're registered to vote. (One state does this.)

Voting should be automatically absentee and thus effectively compulsory. Lacking that, election day needs to be a national holiday. Stop the schools. Stop the working. Give people a chance to get out and vote.

And voting methods needs to be balanced across the states. The fact that they're not even always consist WITHIN a given state means that problems like what happened in Florida in 2k and are even happening now in North Carolina and could likely happen elsewhere over the next week.

It's a travesty that all votes are not created equal, at least on the presidential level. But all politics are local politics. So besides the big races, I've taken a lot of time to look at the city and state measures.

City-side, it reflects a liberal atmosphere and I think I'm for just about all of the measures.

State-wide, there's a couple bonds, a couple energy measures and a few regarding crime. While I don't want to say that anything there is unimportant, there's a sense of sameness to many of the twelve measures. And as cool as I think high speed rail is, I can't say that if 1A doesn't pass I'll be too broken up.

That said, there's two very important measures. Prop 8 is the one that's getting most of the airplay, and it's a reprehensible piece of legislation. On a personal level, I don't think that marriage should be legally defined at all, so in that sense I'm against it. But since it's really a measure about adding a separation of rights between people.

But Prop 8 is actually the lesser of two problems. It's bad, but it's not nearly as bad as Prop 4, which is a very real step in the march to take away rights from women. Every time I try to sit down and write out a concise argument against Prop 4, I find that I'm consumed by anger such that it becomes difficult to think.

If you're an American, go vote next week. Take some time off work (or school), and wait in the line if you need to, but go through with it, regardless of the weather or whatnot. It's a right and a choice that shouldn't be squandered. As much as you might think your vote doesn't matter, it does... especially on the local level.

Otherwise if you see a bunch of things that limit our rights and take away our freedoms pass... you can wonder what might have happened had you gone out to the booth

Support the hate... vote Yes on Prop 8.


(Incidentally, it seems that both yesonprop8.com and yesonprop8.org redirect to noonprop8.com.)

theonlymegumegu gets the blame.

( It's kinda long, okay )

Coming in really late, but I've got my October predictions up on goddOS.

Now I just need to finish that damn Soulcalibur review.

Register. To. Vote.

I'm going to assume that the vast majority of my friends are already registered, but rather than leave it to chance, here's my reminder.

This is important not just because of the presidential race. That IS important, because the US is such a dominating global force, the person we vote in is arguably the most powerful person on the planet, with the ability to affect the lives of more than six billion people. However, less than 300 million have a say.

But moreso, register for your state and local elections. Those are the people who will make the changes that affect you most directly, and they're often completely overshadowed by the media and money of the presidential race.

You can find a list of registration deadlines here. Note that for a number of states, the deadline is this weekend.

Also note that a number of states have early voting, which you can do right now. You may find a list of those that have this here.

Or don't.

I've been giving a lot of thought to the bailout today. This morning I felt sick to my stomach at the thought. This isn't too suprising, because $700,000,000,000 (or more) is a lot of money. I have a hobby of examining insanely big numbers in the theatrical movie industry. This is a couple orders of magnitude greater. It's a bit greater than I can comprehend and the thought of it being used badly really gets to me.

After it failed, I felt relief. All that I've been reading indicates that this is a bad plan, and it'd likely cripple the US Gov't for a number of years while those who caused the problem would get away so they could do it all again.

And now, hours later after I've had more time to think I'm starting to feel anger, possibly bordering on rage. This isn't just a bad plan, it's a terrible plan. The money would be controlled by a few individuals, the oversight is beyond ridiculous, and the limitations imposed on the companies and individuals who caused the mess is beyond pathetic.

Yes, it's a terrible problem, a financial crisis that's bigger than any that most of us have seen in our lives. However, it's a crisis that will go away and can be solved by reasoned, considered thinking. This or any kneejerk bill isn't going to help, and could make it all worse.

My understanding isn't absolute, but I'm going to try and break down what I have gleamed and then make alternative suggestions.

Let's start with the ideological stuff. This isn't anything that would make or break the bank in either direction, but it matters a hell of a lot from a message standpoint. In the general public we understand that there are a relatively small group of people who can be held responsible due to their influence as executives in the companies who are facing problems.

There are two provisions in the bill which seek to limit what these people can get. The first is in direct pay (essentially penalizing companies who pay execs more than $500k) and the second is in the 'golden parachutes'. I'm all in favor of limiting exec pay. Except half a million is ridiculously high. In fact, I'd guess that it's going to be higher than some of these people already get. Plus, they're penalized, but not prohibited from giving higher pay. If I'm to understand how that'll work, company that's in the shitter will sell off a bunch of bad loans to the federal government and then... have to cover some additional fine if they pay their execs too much, thereby giving some miniscule amount of that money back? Seems kinda weak.

And as far as the parachutes, the limitations (unknown to me what those are at this time) only apply to new contracts. Any existing employment agreements already apply. That means if an exec is due $10m or whatever if he's fired... he still gets the $10m.

So how would I correct that? Two provisions: first, execs cannot be paid more than the median household income in the United States. That's a hard limit. Currently it's about $50k a year. They won't be significantly disadvantaged, since they can still reap the stock options the company may give. And that way their financial solvency is tied to how well they do their jobs: i.e. making sure the companies get out of the shitter and back on track.

Second, All existing parachutes are suspended. Any future ones are limited to the equivilant of one year of the exec's salary. Harsh, I know. It'd be bloody difficult for me to find a new job after getting a $50k severance package. I don't know what I'd do.

Next is who gets to decide how the funds are disbursed and how oversight into this happens. As the bill was proposed, the treasury secretary (Paulson, in this case), is given complete authority to do with the money as he sees fit. Oversight consists of five people, one of whom is Paulson.

Umm... right. I don't know about you, but I certainly don't want to give an appointed individual the keys to the kingdom. In fact, I'm not even sure I'd trust it to elected officials. I'd much prefer a system that can run itself automatically. Instead of having the judgement left to those who are giving the money, I'll leave it to those who are taking it.

Let the companies who have the bad loans decide if they want to sell them to the government. If they decide to do so, they MUST comply with a number of regulations, including those listed above. Said regulations would apply to any company acquired by or that acquires any company that chooses to comply (so they don't have a loophole of shuffling the companies around after the money's been given. Once they buy in, they must play by the rules.)

This gives the companies the choice: They can try to deal with the problem by themselves, or they can take the easy money. I'm really quite curious what those execs would choose between the strong personal financial stance in a company saddled with debt and shitty stock or one where they need to take a massive pay cut but that'll be doing much better. Risk reward system, and all.

And finally, we need to understand how the debt will be recovered. Under the current plan, this is... apparently magical. There's some hope that at some point things will be better and the government can recoup the debt. And after five years, congress can give suggestions on how to do that.

That's really kinda weak, really. So instead, all stock transactions get taxed .25%. I'm led to believe that this will generate about $150bn a year. Second, any company that chooses to receive the disbursement will be taxed an additional .25%. This latter would be removed once the debt is paid off. Effectively, this would throw the entire cost of the recovery in the hands of those who engaged in the problem and those of us who don't engage in stock trading (which is separate from stock owning) wouldn't be inconvenienced. The long term investments such as retirement accounts and so forth should be fine, since unless there's a catastrophic crash, the market will recover and they'll be good... and if there is such a crash it won't matter regardless.

And that's it, really. Writing this up (and making dinner in the middle) used up a lot of anger. I doubt it's an entirely useful plan, but it seems a damn sight better than anything that's been brought up so far.

I believe josienutter was the first I saw do this one today.

* take a picture of yourself right now.
* don't change your clothes, don't fix your hair...just take a picture.
* post that picture with NO editing.
* post these instructions with your picture.

karenhealey, theonlymegumegu, and ohsochewy also got to it before me.

( Photo! )

My predictions for September are up here on goddOS.

Also, my eyes are itching.

I got another comment on my post dissing on C&C. This one isn't nearly as awesome as the first, and my response is kinda dry, but with the Olympics and all, I'm a bit strapped for blog ideas.

For the whole event.

My July Movie Recap is up on goddOS.net. I'm surprised to find that my accuracy was relatively high for the month. I need to get started on my September preview.

I'm also back in Washington for a week, since it's my grandmother's 90th birthday party this weekend.

The weather is awesome.

SF's weather is not.

Over on goddOS.net, I've written a good 2000 words about the already massive run for The Dark Knight.

June was an awesome month for movies.

The comments were too beautiful to pass up, so I've made a post over at goddOS to answer them. Looky, looky!

I don't really expect many comments over at goddOS.net. Except when I link it from here, I'm not sure if anyone outside of a small group of friends actually reads it. Still, on occasion there's probably the chance that someone will run across it.

Apparently that happened with my Rock Band review, which I did back in January.

I'm not going to process the comments there, but they're too good to pass up entirely. So for anyone's viewing pleasure:

Ok... so, what I just read... was that a review? It seemed more like an attack. It also seems to me that you must spend a little too much time sitting at your computer or playing that beloved RB (it is awesome, I'll admit it). Coheed and Cambria are a hugely succesfull band, not just in album sales (over 1.5 million stateside alone) but as a live act as well, selling out venues of sizes ranging from mid-size clubs to arenas and amphitheaters. While I'm not the biggest fan of the band (I enjoy the music and story, even Claudio's vocals... just not a big punk/metal guy) I have to give credit and respect where it's due.

Now my question to you is exactly where the fuck do you get off bashing a band you've never listened to outside of one song on a video game and their comics, which you've never read. I imagine you to be a fat, slobby, loser of a guy. I would have been put off by reading this sort of review of anything. To keep it short, shut your fucking mouth if you don't know what you're talking about. Or just shut your fucking mouth... you'll catch flies. Arrogant piece of shit.

If that's not good enough, nine minutes later he submits ANOTHER comment:

Oh and p.s.... I just looked up the numbers... the first five issues of The Amory Wars (which I haven't read either, I'll be honest) have sold over 700,000 copies since their beginnings last year and have been released as a trade paperback graphic novel. The first issue of Volume II is due to come out this week and Hot Topic (that shitty little store in everyone's mall) has taken 138,000 pre-orders since June.

My point is... these guys are highly successful and talented, obviously. You blog about comics and movies. You talk about the self-injection story line or whatever you called it with such disdain as if you yourself were not suffering from some pretty serious delusions of grandure. Arrogant piece of shit.

Heh. I feel vindicated, somehow.

Edit: Because I'm curious about this, I checked into some numbers. I'll grant that there's a lot of problems in tracking comics sales, especially if it's showing up in a non-DM, non-bookstore location like Hot Topic, but I really doubt that the comics have topped 700k for the five issue first series. That would be pushing Big-Two Event Comics numbers. From what I can tell, the trade of the first series had a respectable (but not spectacular) 2500 in its first month. And the first issue of the second series had a respectable (but not spectacular) 10000 issues sold. Even if there's an untapped market that isn't tracked that way, I'd doubt you would even triple those numbers.

In any case, thank you... Brent C. for this amusing little moment before I go to bed.